Last night I had a tough time falling asleep; my mind was all over the place. The last thing I remember thinking about was our 30 days of gratitude and whether the purpose was truly being understood by the children?

In a blink it was morning. Due to my lack of sleep the night before my brain was running on automatic mode and started on the usual Friday routine. The problem was, today was not a usual Friday. The kiddos were home from school due to parent teacher conferences. Thankfully I did not drop off any children at school. Truth be told, that has always been a fear of mine that I would mindlessly drop off the wrong child at the wrong place, or visa versa. Thankfully after referencing my planner and enjoying a cup of coffee the plans for the day all came back to me.

Two weeks prior I had made arrangements with a friend to watch her son while she ran errands. I had totally forgotten and did nothing last night to prepare for today. I glanced up from my coffee cup at the shambles of random stuff spread throughout the house, wowzers! What a mess, that clutter called for a laundry basket brigade. Now, this is my best kept secret, well, not for long. When there are way too many random toys, puzzle parts and pieces, garments, and nonsense scattered around the house I grab a laundry basket and throw everything in the basket. Place that basket in a room that is off-limits and address it after guests have left. Voila, clean house!

Just as I placed the basket in my closet the door bell rang. The kiddos started off playing with toys, which lasted for all of twenty minutes, and then they started inquiring about a snack. Snacks! Again, when I am functioning with a full deck I usually have snacks made the day before and I am totally prepared. This time was not one of those time but I got by with a little help from my friend Betty, Betty Crocker that is. Chocolate chip cookies pouch to the rescue! I would like to say, thank you Betty Crocker for allowing moms to maintain their crazy buys schedules and still be cool in the eyes of their children. The kiddos loved the cookies and they had no idea I did not get the mixer out and add all the necessary ingredients, love, good intentions, and Betty Crocker is all you need.

Thank you Betty, I couldn’t do it without you.

With the snack out-of-the-way I thought I was out of the woods….not so fast. With chocolate all over her face, my daughter asked if we could do a craft. A Craft!?! Sure I exclaimed as I started googling craft ideas. I came across a cool website, http://www.makinglearningfun.com/. On the site I found templates for Pilgrims and Native American. I printed off the templates and let the kiddos raid the craft drawers. While working on their craft my son became impatient and his friend helped him with his pilgrims. With that my daughter exclaimed that their friend was expressing a gratitude attitude, it was priceless. They are listening and comprehending the purpose of the 30 days of gratitude. That made this moms day.

They so enjoyed this unplanned craft

I love the eyes and pink clothes; they each added their own unique touches to their stick people.

Author:momonthegoinholytoledo

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